Why Pakistan Is Protesting Against Modi Inaugurating A Hydroelectric Power Plant In Kashmir

Danish Ismail / ReutersIndia's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C), Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti (2nd R) attend the inauguration of a hydroelectric power plant in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, at Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar, May 19, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Ismail

SRINAGAR, INDIA: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated on Saturday a hydroelectric power plant in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, amid protests from neighbor Pakistan which says the project on a river flowing into Pakistan will disrupt water supplies.

The 330 megawatt Kishanganga hydropower station, work on which started in 2009, is one of the projects that India has fast-tracked in the volatile state amid frosty ties between the nuclear-armed countries.

"This region can not only become self-sufficient in power but also produce for other regions of the country," Modi said in the state's capital, Srinagar. "Keeping that in mind we have been working on various projects here in the past four years."

Pakistan has opposed some of these projects, saying they violate a World Bank-mediated treaty on the sharing of the Indus river and its tributaries upon which 80 percent of its irrigated agriculture depends.

"Pakistan is seriously concerned about the inauguration (of the Kishanganga plant)," its foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday. "Pakistan believes that the inauguration of the project without the resolution of the dispute is tantamount to violation of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT)."

The Kishanganga project was delayed for several years as Pakistan dragged India to the International Court of Arbitration, which ruled in India's favor in 2013.

India has said the hydropower projects underway in Jammu and Kashmir are "run-of-the-river" schemes that use the river's flow and elevation to generate electricity rather than large reservoirs, and do not contravene the treaty.

A day before Modi's trip to the northern state, at least nine people were killed on both sides of the border due to firing by each other's security forces, officials said.

The two countries have fought three wars, two over Kashmir that they rule in part but claim in full.

India accuses Pakistan of promoting militancy in Kashmir, a charge that Islamabad denies.

Modi, who is on a day-long visit to the state, also flagged off the construction of the 14 km (9 mile)-long Zojila tunnel to provide all-weather connectivity between the cities of Srinagar, Kargil and Leh.

The government said it would be the longest road tunnel in India and Asia's longest two-way tunnel, to be constructed at a cost of $1 billion.